How to make your PS2 games WIDESCREEN

[Eternal Sin]

I made this thread for people who dont know how to do this. If this thread is completely useless, then could an admin remove it? If this thread violates any forum rules, please remove it (i dont think this is against the rules though).

Not everyone knows how to make your PS2 games *appear* widescreen on your television. So the instructions will be split up into categories, please verify that you have the correct hardware and refer to its corresponding section. I also recommend you do the tests with your copy of Persona 3 or Persona 3: FES. If you dont have either, than use another PS2 game. Just in case anyone wants to know im using a 37" SHARP Aquous LCD TV.

(Section A) - PS2 + LCD/Plasma TV
(Section B) - PS3 + LCD/Plasma TV
(Section C) - PS2/PS3 + Various TVs

(Section A):

STEP 1 - Refer to your TV's manual and look in the screen stretch section. For me this was in advanced settings. If you cant find your manual, look on your TV's company website to see if they have online manuals for your corresponding TV model.

STEP 2 - Almost all LCD/Plasma TVs these day come equipped with various stretch settings. You will be looking for something thats called "Smart Stretch" or something similar that implies its an advanced stretch. This is a non-liner, non-distorting stretch that feels like its actual widescreen. A short description should be written in your manual, so be sure to find which mode matches what im talking about.

STEP 3 - Test this setting out and see if it works to your liking. If it works fine then you are done. However, you may have to fiddle with a few settings to make it work properly (this deppends on the TV model, i didnt have issues with mine).

(Section B):

STEP 1 - Make sure to go to your PS3 settings and playback options (should be under display/settings/games) and disable the "high-resolution option". The reason we disable this is to be safe, my TV didnt allow the Smart stretch for high-resolution (since most high-res things are already widescreen). However, your TV might have no issues with it, in which case theres no need to disable it. Try it out and see what works.

STEP 2 - Refer to your TV's manual and look in the screen stretch section. For me this was in advanced settings. If you cant find your manual, look on your TV's company website to see if they have online manuals for your corresponding TV model.

STEP 3 - Almost all LCD/Plasma TVs these day come equipped with various stretch settings. You will be looking for something thats called "Smart Stretch" or something similar that implies its an advanced stretch. This is a non-liner, non-distorting stretch that feels like its actual widescreen. A short description should be written in your manual, so be sure to find which mode matches what im talking about.

STEP 4 - You will notice your PS3 will offer widescreen stretch options, these are optional but they usually provide about the same result (i prefer my TV's stretch). These settings might only apply to early models of the PS3 (mine is the 80 gig with the backwards compatibility).

(Section C):

If you do not have a LCD or Plasma TV then your out of luck. If you have a non-LCD or non-Plasma widescreen (or non 4:3 aspect ratio) TV then try the following. Fiddle and test your PS3 widescreen display options (usually under display/settings/games options) and see if you can get the smart stretch to work on your TV.

If you have a 4:3 TV and/or a PS2 then you're flat out of luck, since neither have widescreen options. Mind you a 4:3 TV couldnt display widescreen either way (unless you like the black bars).

Questions:

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me or put up a post, i cant garuntee that i have the answer but i will do my best to help you!

[StrikeRaider]

It's been answered many times by the robot but I think this is a good idea.

Support for great justice!

[Eternal Sin]

*grin*

[superbeast1370]

Persona 3 didn't look bad at all when I stretched the image. it looked fine to me.

[Eternal Sin]

which stretch did you use?

[superbeast1370]

Originally Posted by Eternal Sin

which stretch did you use?

Me? I used A and B. I have a 60GB PS3 (all hardware, baby) so it's upscaled with Widescreen. it looks pretty damn good. when I used the PS2, the used the tv's Widescreen(read: Stretch) option. which again looked good. with Section A, it looked like it's been turned up a notch (because of HDMI). but when I set everything back to normal(normal on PS3 or PS2) everybody looked like walking sticks.

[Eternal Sin]

yeah PS3 > PS2. And the fact that they stopped PS3 backwards compatibility is the dumbest thing ever. If they want to reduce the price, cut something else. The backwards compatibility was a real big selling point.

[Green Card]

Originally Posted by Eternal Sin

yeah PS3 > PS2. And the fact that they stopped PS3 backwards compatibility is the dumbest thing ever. If they want to reduce the price, cut something else. The backwards compatibility was a real big selling point.

I don't think most people care about backwards compatibility. I do though so I made sure to get a 60GB PS3 but I don't know if its as big of a selling point to most people as some make it out to be.

[Eternal Sin]

hmm maybe, for anyone whos upgrading from ps2, yes it is. I find PS2 games on my PS3 look nicer on my LCD tv then on a PS2 (it gets pixelated).

[Spectralpulse]

Any suggestions on PS2 system setting for use on a LCD with the screen stretched?

[Eternal Sin]

not really, just make sure to use the right stretch option on your TV and it should look nice

[Killrig]

Thanks for posting this!

It is a major shame that Atlus didn't support a widescreen option for Person 4. In this day and age, with all new TV technology being widescreen, it is a shame for Atlus to release a title that will immediately appear dated. Thankfully this isn't an issue for the current generation of consoles.

Here's to hoping Persona 5 will be on the Xbox 360 & PS3.

-- Killrig

[superbeast1370]

Originally Posted by Killrig

Thanks for posting this!

It is a major shame that Atlus didn't support a widescreen option for Person 4. In this day and age, with all new TV technology being widescreen, it is a shame for Atlus to release a title that will immediately appear dated. Thankfully this isn't an issue for the current generation of consoles.

Here's to hoping Persona 5 will be on the PS3.

-- Killrig

Fixed

[Hydra]

Originally Posted by Killrig

Here's to hoping Persona 5 will be on the Xbox 360 & PS3.

-- Killrig

That's not my hope... I hope it stays on the PS2. "aka: stays affordable"

---------------

As for P4 and 16:9.... about all you can do is either live with the 4:3 mode bars, or live with a stretch image, or live with a cropped image, or live with a combined stretched and cropped image....

Or manually cycle to Zoom mode for cutscenes and a form of stretch mode or 4:3 mode for gameplay.

[Azmid]

Doesn't seem like my TV has anything like "smart stretch," which is weird because it is relatively new (Samsung A650 40").

Originally Posted by Killrig

Here's to hoping Persona 5 will be on the Xbox 360 & PS3.

-- Killrig

I thought they already were working on a next gen SMT game, or was that indefinitely put on hold?

[Eternal Sin]

hmmm. What are the stretch options on your tv?

[Azmid]

Originally Posted by Eternal Sin

hmmm. What are the stretch options on your tv?

If I recall correctly, 16:9, 4:3, Zoom 1, zoom 2, Just scan, Wide fit. (Just scan and wide fit are greyed out for whatever reason, although I think its because I have to use the tv menu during when the signal is hdmi/component rather than cable)

[Azmid]

Here are some pictures, was fortunate enough to be able to borrow a digital cam. Sorry for bad photography, took them at night. Wide fit one (The first one) encompasses the entire screen of the HDTV.

(PS3 Normal Upscale) Wide Fit


(PS3 Normal Upscale; essentially 4:3) Just Scan


(PS3 Upscale off) TV Upscaling 16:9


(PS3 Upscale off) TV Upscaling 4:3


Wide Fit was the best I could get, unfortunately it cuts off a good portion of the screen on top and bottom (You can see the text box cut off and the top right of the date/time box cut off). PS3 upscale on normal with Just scan on has the most accurate image, but has black bars. PS3 upscale on full screen with TV at 16:9 or Just scan are almost identical to the 3rd image, so I didn't bother taking them.

[superbeast1370]

Originally Posted by Azmid

Here are some pictures, was fortunate enough to be able to borrow a digital cam. Sorry for bad photography, took them at night. Wide fit one (The first one) encompasses the entire screen of the HDTV.

(PS3 Normal Upscale) Wide Fit


(PS3 Normal Upscale; essentially 4:3) Just Scan


(PS3 Upscale off) TV Upscaling 16:9


(PS3 Upscale off) TV Upscaling 4:3


Wide Fit was the best I could get, unfortunately it cuts off a good portion of the screen on top and bottom (You can see the text box cut off and the top right of the date/time box cut off). PS3 upscale on normal with Just scan on has the most accurate image, but has black bars. PS3 upscale on full screen with TV at 16:9 or Just scan are almost identical to the 3rd image, so I didn't bother taking them.

WAIT, it cuts off a portion of the screen? is that your TV doing that? cause my TV/PS3 does no such thing. everything goes smoothly.

[Azmid]

Originally Posted by superbeast1370

WAIT, it cuts off a portion of the screen? is that your TV doing that? cause my TV/PS3 does no such thing. everything goes smoothly.

Only on Wide Fit it does that (PS3 Upscale on Normal and TV on Wide Fit). Wide Fit is greyed out (Can't select) if I set PS3 Upscale to none. It's unfortunate because it's the best stretch out of all of them.

[superbeast1370]

Originally Posted by Azmid

Only on Wide Fit it does that (PS3 Upscale on Normal and TV on Wide Fit). Wide Fit is greyed out (Can't select) if I set PS3 Upscale to none. It's unfortunate because it's the best stretch out of all of them.

well, it works fine on my TV/PS3.

[Eternal Sin]

Try going into your PS3 settings are turning off any setting that looks like "High Resolution", that option should be in the same place as PS2 upscaling if i remember correctly. If you turn that off, your grey-out options should become available methinks. So far i find "(PS3 Upscale off) TV Upscaling 16:9" to be 98% identical to the setting im using, except mine somehow fills the entire screen. Anyways try what i just said and let me know, if it still persists i'll see what i can do.

[Azmid]

Originally Posted by Eternal Sin

Try going into your PS3 settings are turning off any setting that looks like "High Resolution", that option should be in the same place as PS2 upscaling if i remember correctly. If you turn that off, your grey-out options should become available methinks. So far i find "(PS3 Upscale off) TV Upscaling 16:9" to be 98% identical to the setting im using, except mine somehow fills the entire screen. Anyways try what i just said and let me know, if it still persists i'll see what i can do.

After screwing around with it a bit, I think the Wide fit and Just scan only become available if you use the PS3's upscaling option (Normal or Full Screen). Neither of them appear if the source is cable/tv too.

As for the setting with PS3 upscale off (As opposed to normal or full screen) and using the TV's upscaler to 16:9, it does actually fill up the screen (Referring to the 3rd image). It just looks too stretched to me compared to plain ole' 4:3 or the wide fit. If that's as far as I can go with upscaling, I think I'd just play with black bars on at 4:3, the stretch really bothers me especially if I toggle in between 16:9 and 4:3, lol.

[Eternal Sin]

haha alright. Just out of curiosity are you using HDMI cables?

[Azmid]

Originally Posted by Eternal Sin

haha alright. Just out of curiosity are you using HDMI cables?

Yep, tried two different cables and two different hdmi inputs on the tv when I did the upscaling tests... Maybe I just expected too much from the upscaling, did yours really look like the 3rd image? (If you toggle between 16:9 and 4:3 with your TV's setting, the stretch is pretty obvious)

[Eternal Sin]

well it was almost like the 3rd image, the only difference is the stretch wasn't nearly as noticeable. my settings are, high res OFF, ps2 upscale OFF, and let the tv do its SMART STRETCH. I have a 37" SHARP Aquos HD/LCD TV. Really my PS3 only smooths the ps2 graphics and the tv does the rest. If you want me to look into your tv to see if i can make it work, would you mind posting up what your manual says about all stretch options.

[Azmid]

Originally Posted by Eternal Sin

well it was almost like the 3rd image, the only difference is the stretch wasn't nearly as noticeable. my settings are, high res OFF, ps2 upscale OFF, and let the tv do its SMART STRETCH. I have a 37" SHARP Aquos HD/LCD TV. Really my PS3 only smooths the ps2 graphics and the tv does the rest. If you want me to look into your tv to see if i can make it work, would you mind posting up what your manual says about all stretch options.

Maybe the stretches are just more noticeable because my TV's bigger (Odin Sphere and P3 looked more natural on my friend's TV too, but his is a 32" that only does 720p). I'm not sure what you mean by high res (I assumed you meant upscale all this time, lol), I don't remember reading any setting like that on the PS3. Did you mean video output in video settings? (1080p, 720p, 480p, 480i or automatic). Under the Game Setting there is only Upscaling and Smoothing.

If you really want to look into it, this is my TV's site: http://pages.samsung.com/us/unboxed/lcd_650.html they made the manual online. (Right side).

Quick excerpt:

16:9 : Sets the picture to 16:9 wide mode.
Zoom1: Magnifies the size of the picture on the screen.
Zoom2: Magnifies the size of the picture more than “Zoom1”.
Wide Fit: Enlarges the aspect ratio of the picture to fit the entire screen.
4:3 : Sets the picture to 4:3 normal mode.
Just Scan: Use the function to see the full image without any cutoff when HDMI (720p/1080i/1080p), Component (1080i/1080p) or DTV (1080i) signals are input.

[Eternal Sin]

i keep the upscaler off, and sorry when i said high res i meant upscaler. if you still find distortion then it may be because your tv is wider.

[Hydra]

Different TV's have different types of stretch mode. It seems to vary from company to company.

When I was searching for a TV sometime near '03, I saw a rear projection 50" Hatchi that use some sort of fish eye stretch. Where the far left and far right of the image was stretched to cover the 4:3 sides gap, and the middle section was left alone. It was basicly 4:3 with the edges extremely stretched to cover the side bars. Gave it an overall Fish Eye look. Thought it looked horrible, myself...

I settled for a 42" Rear Projection, Sony, which uses a combination of cropping and stretching for it's Hybrid mode (WideZoom is what it's labled as). TV is cropped but it's not too noticable with anything, but games. The stretch it's using is a wave type stetch near the center of the screen. The wave isn't noticable until credit roll and the scrolling words look like they are going over a double speed hump near the center of the screen.

[Otono Kakuei]

Sorry for reviving an old thread.. Is it possible to achieve the same picture quality as in normal tv's (sdtv) when I connect my PS2 (not using a backward compatible PS3) into an hdtv by using this stretch mode feature?